Archive for the ‘MUSIC’ Category

KING GIZZARD & The LIZARD WIZARD – ” Live In San Francisco 16′ “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – ‘Live in San Francisco ‘16’ limited deluxe double golden gate sunburst and bay fog vinyl LP with rainbow foil wide-spine jacket and packaged in a recycled brown paper bag.

King Gizzard recently made multiple announcements including their first studio album of 2020, Along with the announcement was the new single “Automation” The single release saw the band give full access to fans by providing a bunch of film and audio assets to make your own remix and clip.

 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard gave fans a preview of their upcoming “Live in San Francisco ’16″ release with a video of “Evil Death Roll”. The live 13-track, double album is set to arrive on November 20th via ATO Records along with a full concert film. Coming in as the band’s second official live release of 2020, behind April’s Chunky Shrapnel, it helps pad the stats on what has been a—comparatively—light year for the Australian-bred psych rockers. This year saw no studio releases from the group that usually puts out multiple a year, with King Gizzard largely exploring their archives with live releases—many of which the band used as fundraising initiatives for various causes.

In this black-and-white clip shot at The Independent, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard come in hot straight out of the gate with the song’s pounding rhythm. With Stu Mackenzie jumping around like a madman from the very start, one wonders how they can keep this up for the whole song—let alone an entire concert.

The answer comes with an instrumental breakdown in the middle of the tune, where the band is able to catch its breath and slow things down a bit. Meanwhile, repeated wah wah pedal-infused phrasings coming from somewhere in the trio of guitars featuring Joey Walker and Cook Craig in addition to Mackenzie. The style shifts around during the instrumental portion, as Walker’s harmonic-led lead brings the drums down and eventually to a full stop. As drummer Michael Cavanagh gently revives the rhythm, it abruptly turns into a fever pitch as the band comes back in at full velocity, and before you know it Stu is holding his guitar up to the mic to create hectic feedback. In short, this performance is raw energy for 7:31 minutes straight.

Just under a month after delivering their award-winning 2016 album Nonagon Infinity, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard took the stage at San Francisco’s The Independent for a set both wildly frenetic and meticulously executed. In one of their final club gigs before bursting onto the international scene—soon selling out amphitheaters and headlining festivals—the Melbourne septet laid down a breakneck performance that, in the words of SF Weekly, “made every organ ache just right.” Newly unearthed by ATO Records, Live in San Francisco ’16 captures an extraordinary moment in the band’s increasingly storied history, a 13-song spectacular likely to leave every listener awestruck and adrenalized.

Multi-tracked and impeccably mixed, Live in San Francisco ’16 simultaneously channels the massive energy of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s set while echoing the sweaty intimacy of the 500-capacity venue. Like Nonagon Infinity—the band’s eighth full-length and worldwide breakthrough—Live in San Francisco ’16 kicks off with “Robot Stop,” an immediately transportive track built on blistering riffs and bombastic rhythms. Reaching its majestic climax with a 22-minute rendition of fan favourite “Head On/Pill” (from 2013’s Float Along – Fill Your Lungs), the album rushes forward with a furious intensity as the band tears through the entire set without ever breaking—a feat that induces a sort of joyful delirium in anyone who bears witness.

With nearly half the setlist made up of Nonagon Infinity tracks, Live in San Francisco ’16 unfolds with the same exquisitely controlled chaos King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard brought to that arguable masterpiece—a nine-song body of work crafted as the world’s first infinitely looping LP (i.e., each track flowing seamlessly into the next, with the album-closing “Road Train” linking straight back into the opener). “2016 was peak tightness for Gizz,” notes frontman Stu Mackenzie. “Around this time we were really into tightly composed sets, and the show was like one long song—everything linked, everything planned. We threw that idea out the window later on, but this live record is a great document of that moment in our collective psyche.”

An unequivocal turning point for King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Nonagon Infinity arrived in April 2016 and drew major critical acclaim, with NPR hailing it as “masterfully bizarro” and Pitchfork stating that the album “yields some of the most outrageous, exhilarating rock ‘n’ roll in recent memory.” Not only a critical success, Nonagon Infinity won Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal album at the 2016 ARIA Music Awards, while eternally zeitgeisty director Edgar Wright named it among his favourite records of all time. Two years in the making, the album marked a drastic departure from the folk-and-Tropicalia-tinged psych-pop of its 2015 predecessor Paper Mache Dream Balloon, with the band taking a bold creative leap in its structure. “I wanted to have an album where all these riffs and grooves just kept coming in and out the whole time, so a song wasn’t just a song, it was part of a loop, part of this whole experience where it feels like it doesn’t end and doesn’t need to end,” Mackenzie explained back in 2016. When replicated live, that effect is doubly mesmerizing, as frenzied and transcendent as a glorious fever dream.

The vinyl product will be available in 2 formats;
1) The deluxe double LP on “Golden Gate Sunburst” & “Bay Fog” coloured vinyl with rainbow foil wide-spine jacket, printed on recycled board. Custom inner-sleeves, printed on recycled board. The product will be packaged in recycled brown paper bag in lieu of plastic shrink wrap
2) The standard double LP on recycled, randomly coloured, eco-wax vinyl with wide-spine jacket and custom inner-sleeves printed on recycled board. The product will be packaged in recycled brown paper bag in lieu of plastic shrink wrap

Live In San Francisco 16′ Double Disc. Glow in the dark embossed sleeve.
Both out everywhere November 20th

MT MOUNTAIN – ” Aplomb “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The Perth-based psych/Krautrock group Mt. Mountain are today announcing their fourth full-length, ‘Centre’, and sharing the first single, ‘Aplomb’. Their first release on Fuzz Club, the incoming album is due for release on vinyl, CD and tape on February 26th 2021. Australian five-piece Mt. Mountain are today announcing their fourth album, ‘Centre’, and sharing the first single ‘Aplomb’. Taking cues from Krautrock pioneers like Neu! and Can whilst existing in a similar world to contemporaries like Moon Duo, Kikagaku Moyo and Minami Deutsch, Mt. Mountain are formidable torchbearers of the minimal-is-maximal tradition. Out today, ‘Aplomb’ was one of the first songs written for the album and marked a conscious shift of focus towards more rhythmic patterns within their music. Stephan Bailey (vocals/organs/flute) reflects on the song: “‘Aplomb’ is essentially the voice that I hear in my head, reminding me to not rush and slow down, and to have the confidence to bring this into practice in everyday life. We wanted there to be this clear contrast here between the tempo of the song and the lyrical content, an approach which appears throughout the album.”
Very excited to announce that we have signed with Fuzz Club Records. Details on the incoming release coming soon! through fuzzclubrecords: “We’re super excited to announce that we’ve signed the great mt.mountain for their incoming third album – the details of which will all be revealed soon!
Hailing from Perth, Australia and forming in mid-2012, Mt. Mountain deal in just about everything we love here at Fuzz Club: a sprawling, motorik psychedelic rock sound that effortlessly journeys between tranquil, drone-like meditations and raucous, full-throttle wig-outs that’ll blow your mind as much as your speakers.
Bailey describes how, thematically, much of ‘Centre’ is a dissection of faith – both spiritual and secular – and his personal, often complicated relation to it: “The album for me, lyrically, is mostly about my experience of religion. It explores these concepts and the rules that were told to me from childhood to adulthood and my thoughts on my own connection to them. Similar themes arise between the tracks whether it be lyrically or structural, both a play on repetition and simplicity.” ‘Aplomb’ is lifted from Mt. Mountain’s incoming fourth album ‘Centre’, due for release February 26th 2021 on Fuzz Club Records. You can pre-order the album on vinyl, CD and tape here:https://fuzzclub.lnk.to/aplomb

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE – ” Live In Maui ” 3 LP set

Posted: November 29, 2020 in MUSIC
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JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE - LIVE IN MAUI 3LP/BLU-RAY

Experience Hendrix announces a brand new collection that couples the brand new feature length documentary “Music, Money, Madness . . . Jimi Hendrix In Maui” with the accompanying live performances on both audio and video. The film chronicles the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s storied visit to Maui, their performance on the dormant lower crater of Haleakala volcano on the island and how the band became ensnared with the ill-fated “Rainbow Bridge” movie produced by their controversial manager Michael Jeffery. Directed by John McDermott and produced by Janie Hendrix, George Scott and McDermott, the documentary incorporates never before released original footage and new interviews with first hand participants and key players such as Billy Cox, Eddie Kramer, Warner Bros. executives and several Rainbow Bridge cast members, as well as its director Chuck Wein.

The Blu-ray will include the full documentary as well as the 16mm colour film shot of the two afternoon performances captured on July 30, 1970 mixed in both stereo and 5.1 surround sound. Also included in the package will be Live In Maui – both of the aforementioned sets spread across 2 CDs, newly restored and mixed by long time Jimi Hendrix engineer Eddie Kramer, and mastered by Bernie Grundman. The 2 sets finds The Experience – Hendrix, Billy Cox on bass, Mitch Mitchell on drums – at the height of its powers playing flawlessly against a stunning natural backdrop. Included are breathtaking renditions of crowd favourites like “Foxey Lady,” “Purple Haze” and Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” as well as then-unreleased songs like “Dolly Dagger” and “Freedom” that showcased the new direction Hendrix was moving toward.

Release Date: November 20th, 2020, Limited numbered editions available.

Music, Money, Madness … Jimi Hendrix In Maui

CHARMPIT – ” Cause A Stir “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Debut album on Specialist Subject from the partly California-raised ‘anarcuties’ Charmpit. Quietly subversive cultural politics with a barrelful of musical sugar to ease the medicine down. File under femme, not twee (then burn the filing system; they’re anarchists). “Cause A Stir” by Charmpit (by Emma Prew) London via California DIY pop(star) punk band Charmpit are gearing up to release their much anticipated debut full-length on the 3rd of April. Titled Cause A Stir, the album is being released by the always excellent Specialist Subject Records and follows on from Charmpit’s previous releases on Keroleen Records and Everything Sucks.

This London x California 4 piece, Charmpit, deliver Pop(star) Punk in a queer, DIY “Anarcutie” package. Through playful harmonies, sparkling guitar and to-the-point lyrics, they place a high value on friendship, the power of femme, and FUNctional social justice politics. Their debut LP Cause A Stir is a shining showcase of powerful song-writing twisted up in their hot couture and glittering vision. Charmpit got their start in 2016 during the DIY Space For London’s ‘First Timers’ project; an annual series of workshops, skill-shares and first time performances that ‘celebrates demystification’ and pours fresh, diverse, new talent into the UK music scene. They are what ‘First Timers’ dreams are made of! Releasing their first 7” vinyl single,

New single from upcoming CHARMPIT LP ‘Cause A Stir’ out 3rd April, 2020 on Specialist Subject,

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Released April 3rd, 2020

MAMALARKY – ” Schism Trek “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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As Mamalarky set out to make their debut album, they had a vision in mind: to shape the, “patchwork of different influences that comes together as a cozy quilt you can cuddle under”. Mamalarky are a collective of musical obsessives, outside of the band they are touring musicians and band managers, people dedicated to music above all else. The result is a record that seems to be indebted to the great and good of music history, a blur of musical ideas, melded into weird and wonderful soundscapes entirely of their own creation. There’s an almost hyper level of creativity here, a record that zips between styles and sounds, rarely stopping anywhere for long, channelling the spirit of an array of artists, from the angular stop-start rhythms of Weaves, the wonky-pop of Pom Poko and the wonderfully noisy edge of Deerhoof. In the foreground throughout is Livvy’s vivid story-telling, scratch the surface and these are personal tales, memories of feeling lost and lonely, repressing old relationships and the band’s own experience of being dotted across the country, wondering when the chance would come to be together again. This is the sound of a band in love with making music, a record that’s a fun, exciting and joyous expression of self

From Mamalarky’s Debut Self Titled Album Out in November on Fire Talk Records.

FRANK ZAPPA – ” Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ” 5LP Box Set

Posted: November 29, 2020 in MUSIC
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With unfettered access to the Zappa Trust and all archival footage, “Zappa” explores the private life behind the mammoth musical career that never shied away from the political turbulence of its time. Alex Winter’s assembly features appearances by Frank’s widow Gail Zappa and several of Frank’s musical collaborators including Mike Keneally, Ian Underwood, Steve Vai, Pamela Des Barres, Bunk Gardner, David Harrington, Scott Thunes, Ruth Underwood, Ray White and others. The soundtrack is a perfect complement to the film available as a limited edition 5-LP 180-gram smoke color vinyl set for the Zappa completist. Showcasing 69 total songs, there are 12 previously unreleased recordings from the Zappa archive along with his 1978 Saturday Night Live performance; 24 additional Zappa songs from his extensive catalogue spanning four decades; songs from Zappa’s labels Straight / Bizarre Records like “No Longer Umpire” by Alice Cooper and “The Captain’s Fat Theresa Shoes” by The GTO’s; 2 classical compositions by Edgard Varese and Igor Stravinsky; and 26 Original Score cues newly composed by John Frizzell for the documentary – all of which give the universe a sonic exploration into the musical brilliance of Frank Zappa.

The music in “Zappa” spans the composer’s entire career, including psychedelic rock, jazz and classical experiments — beginning with several cuts from his 1966 debut with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out, to the last recording released in his lifetime, 1993’s The Yellow Shark. It contains 12 tracks that have never been commercially released — including three selections from a June 1968 concert at the Whisky A Go-Go, his 1978 performance of “Dancin’ Fool” on Saturday Night Live and several interview clips — along with two songs originally released on Zappa’s labels. 

For Zappa, Winter received full access to the Zappa Trust. He interviewed several musicians who worked with Zappa, including Steve Vai, Mike Keneally and Ian Underwood, as well as Zappa’s widow Gail, who died in 2015. You can see the trailer below and stream the movie from its official website.

Frank Zappa’s story is not a predictable arc of youthful talent and enthusiasm blossoming into commercial success and critical acclaim followed by a long, boring afterlife. Frank began composing as a teenager after hearing the rhythmically iconoclastic sounds of Edgard Varèse, and well before picking up a guitar. In 1965, he formed the Mothers of Invention to support his composing habit. According to Paul McCartney, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was directly inspired by the Mothers’ debut album, Freak Out!, which would have been rock’s first double album if a different variety of freak out, Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde, hadn’t arrived a week earlier. Have I mentioned that ZAPPA devotes surprisingly little screen time to Frank onstage with his various Mothers iterations? There are snippets galore, but don’t stream this movie expecting previously unheard guitar magnificence or comedy-rock tomfoolery. Winter points out that you can easily find that sort of thing elsewhere, and that’s definitely not the crux of this cinematic biscuit.

A triple-CD companion soundtrack, meanwhile, delivers oodles of complete tracks along with composer John Frizzell’s unexpectedly discreet and complementary score for the film. Universal is accepting orders for the physical set, which will be available next year as three-CD or five-LP formats (black or smoke vinyl), along with a 21-track compilation that will be sold digitally and on clear vinyl.

MARVIN ETZIONI – ” Marvin Country! “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Marvin Country is Marvin Etzioni’s ambitious fourth album. The two-record set hits the streets on April 17, 2012 and features Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, John Doe, Richard Thompson, Buddy Miller, Maria Mckee, and more. Marvin Etzioni is an American singer, mandolinist, bassist, and record producer, Etzioni is best known as a founder of, and bassist for, the band Lone Justice.

In 2012, Marvin Etzioni released a double album extravaganza: Marvin Country! It featured guest appearances from folks including John Doe, Lucinda Williams, Buddy Miller, Steve Earle, The Dixie Hummngbirds, Murry Hammond, and Richard Thompson. Even old Lone Justice cohorts Maria McKee, Shayne Fontaine, and David Vaught were along for the ride. But, the origins of some of those songs go back two decades.

Marvin issued Marvin Country: Communication Hoedown himself, on cassette in 1992, saying “I was single-handedly trying to bring back cassettes at a time when the industry said they were done. I still liked the analogue sound versus the high glossy digitalness (to coin a new word) of CDs.” It has never had an official release until now.

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There’s country, there’s alt. country, and there’s Marvin Country. It’s a magical place, way off the map, populated by back-porch philosophers, hobos, brokenhearted lovers and spacemen and presided over by the man the L.A. Times called “one heck of a songwriter.” Grammy award winner Marvin Etzioni has been known over the years as producer (Counting Crows, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Peter Case), sideman (T Bone Burnett, Dixie Chicks, Grey Delisle) and songwriter (Cheap Trick, Victoria Williams) Even before there was No Depression, Marvin was a co-founder of the seminal roots-rockers Lone Justice. It’s safe to say Marvin is revered in Americana circles worldwide. “Marvin Country!” is his ambitious fourth album, and first in over a decade. The two-record set hits the streets on 16th April. The mandolin man is back. “(Etzioni’s) material ranges from stark folk-based tunes to raw Stone’s-like rockers.”

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This time around Marvin lacks his mind blowing poetry & almost makes up the CD set with simple repeatable blues refrains. Yet he is his normal playful self with analogue sound effects, inner jokes, & songs about death & salvation. I hear more Blues & a few Cajun songs than the number of any country style of music. Some other songs are beyond categorization. There are many references about past Country greats as with Pasty Cline & Gram Parson, even the death of Bob Dylan. Don’t worry Bob is still around, but Marvin is thinking about that day that all of us shall meet.

CAR SEAT HEADREST – ” Making a Door Less Open “

Posted: November 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The struggle continues on Will Toledo’s latest effort. Id does battle with superego; fame seduces and repulses; and self-acceptance tangles with self-loathing. What’s evolved magnificently is the music: Toledo has stowed the seven-minute-plus rock operas for a collection of single-length songs that are crawling with earworms, such as the shimmying “Can’t Cool Me Down” and the stunning LP climax “There Must Be More Than Blood.”

This album was made from January 2015 to December 2019, starting as a collection of vague ideas that eventually turned into songs. I wanted to make something that was different from my previous records, and I struggled to figure out how to do that. I realized that because the way I listened to music had changed, I had to change the way I wrote music, as well. I was listening less and less to albums and more and more to individual songs, songs from all over the place, every few days finding a new one that seemed to have a special energy. I thought that if I could make an album full of songs that had a special energy, each one unique and different in its vision, then that would be a good thing.

Andrew, Ethan, Seth and I started going into the studio to record songs that had more finished structures and jam on ideas that didn’t. Then I would mess with the recordings until I could see my way to a song. Most of the time on this album was spent shuttling between my house and Andrew’s, who did a lot of the mixing on this. He comes from an EDM school of mixing, so we built up sample-heavy beat-driven songs that could work to both of our strengths.

Each track is the result of an intense battle to bring out its natural colours and transform it into a complete work. The songs contain elements of EDM, hip hop, futurism, doo-wop, soul, and of course rock and roll. But underneath all these things I think these may be folk songs, because they can be played and sung in many different ways, and they’re about things that are important to a lot of people: anger with society, sickness, loneliness, love…the way this album plays out is just our own interpretation of the tracks, with Andrew, Ethan and I forming a sort of choir of contrasting natures.

The songs are shorter but denser, a melding of driving guitar rock and euphoric EDM, with unexpected flourishes that range from white-boy hip-hop to prog rock. Toledo has credited drummer and his co-producer Andrew Katz with the album’s electronic direction — a direction related to their electro-comedy side project 1 Trait Danger, which has something to do with the gas mask that the frontman has been wearing in recent photos. Ignore the get-up, listen to the album. Music should be about enjoying yourself, especially live music, and I think of this costume as a way to remind myself and everyone else to have some fun with it. I don’t think it changes anything else about the songs or how you feel about them to be able to drop it for a second and have fun with it. If you can’t do that then you’re in a bad place…

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The character comes from another project Andrew and I have been working on called 1 TRAIT DANGER. This is something Andrew started doing on tour¬—recording ideas for his own songs as they came to him, and forcibly enlisting everyone else to participate. It appealed to me because it was nothing like Car Seat Headrest, and the ideas cracked me up. Before we knew it we had two albums released, a video game that was almost impossible to beat, and a growing number of people who seemed to be enjoying it all. It’s been a great outlet for weird and untenable musical experiments, and the live performances have been a blast. I play a character called TRAIT, and we’ve been working out the backstory as we go. I think he spent a lot of time in classified government facilities before getting into the music business.

‘Making A Door Less Open’ is the new album by Car Seat Headrest released May 1st, 2020

Written by Will Toledo. “Hollywood” written by Will Toledo and Andrew Katz.
Published by Mattitude.

Will Toledo – vocals, synths, keyboards, organ, guitar, piano, drum programming
Andrew Katz – vocals, drums, drum programming
Ethan Ives – guitar, vocals
Seth Dalby – bass guitar

Violin on “Can’t Cool Me Down” by John Huggins.
Guitar on “Hollywood” and “There Must Be More Than Blood” by Gianni Aiello.

DRY CLEANING – ” Scratchcard Lanyard “

Posted: November 28, 2020 in MUSIC
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London-based band Dry Cleaning have shared their new single “Scratchcard Lanyard,” which also serves as their debut release with 4AD Records and should appear on their debut album, which is on the horizon soon.

The band has shared the creative music video for the song which marks the directorial debut of artist duo Rottingdean Bazaar which sees vocalist Florence Shaw singing in a miniature nightclub that is shot in a stylistic fashion. The song itself is a compelling art-punk rock effort that has some sharp angular guitar riffs that perfectly set the table for Shaw’s delivery that feels like a mix between Protomartyr, U.S. Girls and Parquet Courts. All good things.

‘Scratchcard Lanyard’ is a treatise on the joy of life’s little pleasures, where air fresheners become mighty oaks and Instagram filters are glamourous holiday destinations. The South London band explain further – “In the search for your true calling in life, it’s easy to try so many things that you end up confused. It can lead to an enormous build-up of frustration. You may fantasise about exacting revenge upon your real or imagined enemies. Ephemeral things and small-scale escapist experiences can provide some relief!”

The companion video for ‘Scratchcard Lanyard’  riffing on the song’s celebration of the humdrum – inserts vocalist Florence Shaw into her own miniature night club. Rottingdean Bazaar are artists James Theseus Buck and Luke Brooks. Their work includes design, creative direction and fine art practices, and the duo live and work in Rottingdean, East Sussex in the UK.

Dry Cleaning is Nick Buxton (drums), Tom Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard (bass) and Florence Shaw (vocals). Firm friends for years, they only started making music after a karaoke party in 2017 inspired a collaboration. They wrote instrumentally to begin with and six months later Shaw, a university lecturer and picture researcher by day, joined on vocals with no prior musical experience. 

Dry Cleaning’s music is simple – direct and uncomplicated. The Feelies, the Necessaries, the B52s and Pylon all served as inspirations when the band first came together. The small and intimate garage / rehearsal space had a huge influence on the sound; both of last year’s EPs Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks and Sweet Princess were written here. The quartet have finished work on their debut album, with details to follow soon. 

Dry Cleaning share the song ‘Scratchcard Lanyard’, the group’s first release on 4AD Records.

REAL ESTATE – ” The Main Thing “

Posted: November 27, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Real Estate

Real Estate were breezy right from the start but have mellowed further with every record. The Main Thing, is the band’s fifth album, is their most settled yet. Also one of their most enjoyable. This is Real Estate’s second album with Julian Lynch as the group’s other guitarist, alongside frontman Martin Courtney, and everything feels comfortable if thankfully not quite predictable. Keyboardist Matthew Kallman’s presence is increased, with swirling synthesizers intertwining with the rippling guitar leads, and Jackson Pollis is credited not just with drums but drum programming. In that way, there’s an added emphasis on rhythm and groove, with Alex Bleeker’s basslines more fluid than they’ve ever been before. The album opens with “Friday,” a song whose oceanic synths and rolling basslines are closer to Air or Zero 7 than The Grateful Dead or The Feelies, and it’s not the only soft rock touch here. That leads directly into “Paper Cup” which, with sweeping strings, bongos and a fat keyboard lead dueling with the guitars, is just a Michael McDonald backup vocal away from being full-on yacht rock. No Doobie Brothers in earshot, but Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath does provide lovely background vocals.

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The rest of The Main Thing is in more familiar Real Estate territory, and quality remains high. “You” is an instant classic, and the title track is nearly as appealing with a soaring, compact guitar solo that actually leaves you wanting more. Courtney and Lynch stretch out and peel off some jammier leads on “Also A But” and a few other tracks, but for the most part keep things, tight, bright and just a little wistful. As for the album’s title, it was partially inspired by Roxy Music’s song of the same name and more specifically about how doing the thing you love is your true path. Which, in the case of this band, is writing super catchy guitar pop. To that end Real Estate are wildly succeeding.

Released February 28th, 2020

2020, Domino Recording Co Ltd

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